and children, and for all children, is very great.  He has a strong feeling for domestic life, saying to me, when our children were in the room:  ‘These are the sweet moments of our life.’  One can see by the way he takes them up and plays with them that he is very fond of children.”  And again she wrote:  “He also spoke of princes being nowadays obliged to strive to make themselves worthy of their position, so as to reconcile people to the fact of their being princes.”

The effect of this visit was to make France somewhat suspicious, and the Queen expressed her wish that it might not prevent the visit which had been promised by King Louis Philippe.

There was at one time actually danger of war over trouble in the East, but King Leopold, whose kingdom was in the happy position of having its independence guaranteed by the Powers,[2] was able to bring his influence to bear, and the critical period passed over, to the great relief of the Queen.

[Footnote 2:  This, however, did not protect Belgium in 1914, when Germany did not hesitate to attack her.]

In 1844 King Louis Philippe paid his promised visit, of which the Queen said, “He is the first King of France who comes on a visit to the Sovereign of this country.  A very eventful epoch, indeed, and one which will surely bring good fruits.”

The King was immensely pleased with everything he saw, and with the friendly reception he received.  He assured the Queen that France did not wish to go to war with England, and he told her how pleased he was that all their difficulties were now smoothed over.

During his stay he was invested with the Order of the Garter—­an Order, it is interesting to recollect, which had been created by Edward the Third after the Battle of Cressy, and whose earliest knights were the Black Prince and his companions.

The Corporation of London went to Windsor in civic state to present the King with an address of congratulation.  He declared in his answer that “France has nothing to ask of England, and England has nothing to ask of France, but cordial union.”

But in 1848 the Orleans dynasty was overthrown, France proclaimed a republic, and King Louis Philippe, his wife and family were forced to flee to England.  Here in 1850, broken in health, the King died.

In 1852 Louis Napoleon, who had been elected President for life, created himself Emperor, and in 1855, after the conclusion of the Crimean War and the death of the Emperor Nicholas, he visited England.

A State Ball was held of which the Queen wrote:  “How strange to think that I, the granddaughter of George III, should dance with the Emperor Napoleon, nephew of England’s great enemy, now my nearest and most intimate ally, in the Waterloo room, and this ally only six years ago living in this country an exile, poor and unthought of! . . .  I am glad to have known this extraordinary man, whom it is certainly impossible not to like when you live with him, and not even to a considerable extent to admire.  I believe him to be capable of kindness, affection, friendship, and gratitude.  I feel confidence in him as regards the future; I think he is frank, means well towards us, and, as Stockmar says, ’that we have insured his sincerity and good faith towards us for the rest of his life.’”